Friday, December 28, 2007

2007 review

Generally, each year, I tend to try to figure out my 3 favourite films and 3 favourite games of the year and highlight these.

So here goes. Starting with…

Films

Not a very good year film while in my opinion. I can honestly say that I have not seen many outstanding films at the cinema this year. Most of the films mentioned below are actually films which were released in earlier years that I have only just caught up on DVD. Anyway, here are my 3 favourite films of the year, followed by a list of notable films (both good and very bad).

Films of the year:

Pan’s Labyrinth

An incredible film, both beautiful and moving. What is especially special about this film is that come the ending, it can be interpreted in 2 very different ways. I will not spoil it for those who have not seen it, but I will say that it can be interpreted either optimistically or pessimistically. I unfortunately, saw the ending scene in a pessimistic light – which makes the ending absolutely soul destroying. I cannot recommend it enough. It also occurs to me that for last 3 years, my favourite films for each year have been foreign language films… What does that tell you about the state of Hollywood?



Inland Empire

Not a film for everyone’s tastes.
This just shows that Lynch is still a great creative force. This is not a film that is meant to be fully understood (but I will give someone a medal if they can explain it to me), instead this is a film that needs to be experienced. It is shocking, disturbing funny and most of all, utterly bizarre.






Ratatouille

Why oh why can a film about a Rat bring a lump to my throat, when near the end of the film, the main character (Remy) cooks an exceptionally fine meal for a food critic? It’s because it’s a Pixar film. Quite frankly there is no studio, or director in Hollywood today that can match them for storytelling and also consistency. Roll on WALL-E next year (which I think looks incredible btw).






Notable mentions:

Children of Men
Very almost made it into my top 3. What is slightly annoying, is that I had a fantastic idea for a potential novel – called Children of Lazarus (honest) which was incredibly similar to the plot of Children of Men. Unfortunately I never got around to writing it, so Children of Men beat me to the punch. I don’t mind though, as it is an excellent film.

Irreversible
A French film which uses a very similar plot mechanic as Memento (namely the film is told backwards in segments). This film is notable this year, however, because it is by far the most depressing film I have ever seen.
Certainly not a film to watch unless you want to feel utterly depressed for the remainder of the day!

Baise-Moi
Another French film. I will not waste my breath too long on this, other to say that this is simply a pile of steaming excrement. I honestly could not conceive of a worse film. All I will say is that do not watch this film ever, not even out of curiosity (as I did), it really is bad beyond words.

Beowulf 3D
Showed me that a full feature length film can work admirably in 3D. Whilst at times the affect can be used as a gimmick, it can also add to the experience no end. The initial attack by Grendal to the strobeing ghostly flickering light of the drinking hall, really was simply awe inspiring.

Little Miss Sunshine
It should have won Best Picture over the Departed… There I’ve said it.

Games

Overall it’s been a great year for the average gamer. There seems to have been truly great games released on all formats (although obviously I have not been able to play the 360 titles – damn you Bioshock for not going multiplatform). The PS2 continued to have great titles in its twilight years, the PS3 has had less titles, but a few gems. The Wii game front was a little barren earlier on in the year, but the latter half of the year brought some great titles – from Nintendo of course.

Games of the Year:

Final Fantasy XII

I love Final Fantasy games, but even I must admit that there was need for change. Final Fantasy X, whilst good, was not as VII to IX and I never go to play Final Fantasy XI – being online only. Final Fantasy XII reinvented the Final Fantasy system in such a fantastic way, simplifying many things, but at the same time adding a level of planning and complexity. It also featured many memorable, likeable characters (Balthier in particular, who I hated at first, but absolutely loved by the end of the game).
Roll on Final Fantasy XIII (soon – pretty please)




Phoenix Wright 3: Trials and Tribulations

The first 2 games were great (although 1 was better than 2), but this final chapter is just perfect.
It takes all the loose threads from the first 2 games and knits them together into 5 fantastic cases which tie everything up perfectly. Although getting to the end of these cases was no easy feat – there were so many twists and turns in the story. There is really nothing to beat the feeling you get, however, when you know that a case is finally turning in your favour



Super Mario Galaxy

Okay – so I’ve only had it for a few days and I’m only around 14 stars in, but all the same… :)
No other game has put a smile on my face to such a degree as Super Mario Galaxy – it’s pure gaming nirvana, nothing more, nothing less.
Now I am amongst the few who really enjoyed Super Mario Sunshine, but even I can admit that it wasn’t nearly as good as the classic Mario 64. It has been said before, but I can say that I agree entirely that Super Mario Galaxy really is a true sequel to Mario 64.
An absolute highlight to the gaming year.



Notable mentions:

Resistance: Fall of Man
The game I played on the PS3 and also my first real experience of online gaming (I had only dabbled a little before). The single player game was okay – but not spectacular, but it was the multiplayer where the fun was. To this date, no other PS3 games has run as flawlessly and has had as many community and online options as Resistance (even the online only Warhawk), and that’s saying something for a launch game.

Call of Duty 4
Very almost made it into my top 3. The single player game is like the best adrenalin filled action film that you have ever seen mixed with an absurd level of atmosphere and graphical sheen. Then in addition to that, there is the multiplayer, which bring RPG like levelling up into the world of FPS. It slower and more realistic approach also makes it a very different game than the likes of Resistance.
Best game so far for the PS3 (and it’s a multiplatform title)

Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Takes the classic Zelda formula and wraps it perfectly around the unique capabilities of control scheme of the DS.
The fact that it is a Zelda game immediately endears it to me, however, this is Zelda reinvented for the portable casual gaming world and it works beautifully. There are a few niggles – namely I hate having to redo the damn Phantom temple time and time again under a time limit, but there are also some extremely good points – the omission of fairies in bottles, which has made previous Zelda games too easy.
Overall an excellent game.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Although I have enjoyed the first two Metroid Prime games and was looking forward to the next instalment, Metroid Prime 3 has always been about the control scheme. A couple of games have tried using the Wiimote for a FPS game in the past and failed, to the baton was then passed onto Retro to perfect he technique and they did just that. It also helps that the game is fantastic fun and not as stupidly difficult as the first 2 games. Plus it’s art design is fantastic and looks great compared to other HD games even in standard definition.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

No Fairytale for you!

Seriously... What is wrong with the world.

I have just read that BBC Radio 1, in their infinate wisdom, have decided to ban certain words fromthe classic Christmas song "Fairytime in New York" by the Pogues.

Read here

And it has taken them how long to read this decision? Only 20 Damn years!

For Christ sake (pun intended) this is one of the rare few Christmas songs that I actually like. How dumb can you get... The damn faggots!

Monday, December 17, 2007

TDK

It's here....

The Dark Knight Trailer...

Why so serious?

;)

In other new - completed Metroid Prime 3 over the weekend - one hell of a good game!

Thursday, December 06, 2007

London, films, Bay and SF4

Well, our trip to London didn’t go quite as smoothly as we’d hoped. Well to be quite frank, it seemed to be one problem after another.

The whole reason for the trip was so that Roz could go and watch Mika live in concert (I must stress again, that I was not going to see this – I was just accompanying her to the venue). So the biggest disappointment of the trip was when we arrived at the venue, only to find out that it had been cancelled due to illness (Mika that is). However, that was not the only hitch or quirk during the trip… These are the others that spring to mind:

- Elliot got another case of tonsillitis just prior or our trip and whilst we were away he managed to be sick in Roz’s parents bed.
- Guernsey Customs getting anal with us about the style of clear plastic bag in which we had stored out liquid medication. Apparently it has to be resealable… naturally ours was, but it didn’t match their exact specifications.
- I messed up the cinema times and as such, missed Beowulf at the IMAX (got to see it at the Vue instead).
- There were numerous delays and cancellations on the Tube, at one point making a 20 minute trip take 2-3 times longer.
- A passenger with us on the Tube decided to have a hissy fit after hearing an announcement, and whilst swearing profusely, he decided it would be fun to take his aggravation out by kicking the side of the tube train several times.
- Just prior to entering the departure lounge at Gatwick, the airport was evacuated due to a fire alarm, thus making the queues to re-enter departures frankly ridiculous.

Anyway… onto the films.

Films watched:
Beowulf


CGI nearly nakedness in action fantasy 3D fun fest.
7.5/10

Ratatouille



Pixar can do no wrong. Charming, fantastic, engaging and moving.
9/10

Watching Beowulf was my first experience of watching a full feature length film completely in 3D. I have in the past seen the likes of Terminator 3D and Bugs Life 3D in Universal Studio’s and Disney. I have to say that at first, I found watching the film a little off putting and almost wished I could watch it normally, but after the first 15 minutes I got used to it. I think it clicked with me when Grendel first attacks, which looked simply brilliant and damn frightening in 3D.

The film does suffer a lot from shots that have been purposefully framed for 3D (namely someone pointing their spear at the screen etc) and to be honest, the 3D effect tended to look best when it was used subtlety, or alternatively during action scenes. The finale, with the dragon was also nothing short of spectacular in 3D.

I do not like Michael Bay, I do not like Michael Bay’s films (with the exception of The Rock). However, I must admit that Michael Bay has for the first time (to my knowledge) spoken some sense in public about the HD format war. Something which I also have suspected for some time…

Microsoft conspiracy ahoy!

Finally, the first screenshot of Street Fighter 4 ha popped online… It looks pretty damn sweet!

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Xbox live vs PSN – round 2

Remember my previous Xbox live vs PSN post…

Well just to add fuel to the fire, it would seem that Microsoft is doing it’s very best to get rid of the freeloaders who are just on an Xbox live silver membership.

Now normally on the silver member hip you are not permitted to play online (that’ll cost you), but previously you could access the same demo’s and other content available on the marketplace. Now however, silver members will have to wait a week longer than gold members to access the same free services:

Read here:

Now, this seems to me that Microsoft are treating those people who currently use Xbox live for free (but without online play) like second class citizens. In reality, they are just trying to get silver members to sign up to a gold account, therefore increasing their revenues by a further £39.99 per year from these users. After all, how dare they have access to these services for free!

By my reckoning, PSN access is still a great bargain!

Also, I forgot to add last time – that with Microsoft, if you want to connect wirelessly to your internet – it will cost you a further £59.99, for the wireless bridge! Now last time I checked, you buy stand wireless PC cards for less than £15.00. That’s a bit of a difference…

BTW I’m back from London – will likely blog about my London experiences in the next few days.